This was an experiment but the filling’s so yummy and easy to make I wanted to share these macarons with you immediately! And say happy lunar new year to you! If you celebrate I hope you’re having a lovely time with mountains of delicious food naturally. I’ve been making pineapple tarts, those traditional new year cookies with only egg yolk in the pastry so there were surplus egg whites pleading to be whipped up into macarons. And there’s been a flu virus whooshing its way around Barcelona that’s left me weak and a little feverish yet curiously able to function in the kitchen with extra time on my hands to paint edible roosters. Lol. Sorry, back to the point: these raspberry and black pepper cheesecake macarons are delicious! They’re almost savoury with a lovely hit of freshly-ground black pepper in the Philadelphia cream cheese layer. Then the fruity layer is fresh raspberry purée set with gelatine (you could use agar agar) and sweetened with a little sugar. Close your eyes as you savour them and you’ll be reminded of a light, delicious cheesecake with a beautiful balance of textures and flavours! Open your eyes and you’ll see a collection of dinky roosters interspersed with lotus flowers! 🙂

Raspberry and black pepper cheesecake macarons for a fire-rooster new year!

THE RECIPE – for 30 macarons

I invented this recipe. Yay! It’s inspired by my belief that macaron fillings should be as savoury, zingy, tangy or fresh as possible to counterbalance the sweetness of the shells. You can play around with the quantity of black pepper and the ratio of cream cheese to raspberry layer. It’s all very flexible. My friend (and teatime cake tester) loved these best sweeter but actually adored them all, saying the black pepper really belonged there! She closed her eyes and say ‘hmmm’ at every first bite. Not ‘hmmm’ as in ‘what am I eating?’ but as in ‘yum yum, I’m in macaron heaven.’

Macaron shells (bake 60 shells to make 30 macarons)

There’s no need to paint roosters. Just have pink macaron shells to reflect the raspberry filling. Follow your own macarons recipe or use my step-by-step instructions for Italian macaron shells in the basics section – they’re very do-able! Cool completely before filling and if you prefer make the day before (store in airtight tupperware at room temperature).

Raspberry and black pepper cheesecake macarons

Optional rooster decoration: do this before filling. Draw the outline of the roosters with a red edible food pen. Add a little water to edible gold powder and with a thin paintbrush fill in the roosters and add dots around the edge. Then use tweezers to put a little edible gold paper on the tail to add height and the idea of a shimmering flame, because 2017 is a fire rooster year!

You can also draw lotus flowers or anything you like! Perhaps some hearts for Valentine’s Day?

Filling(for 30 macarons)

Raspberry layer

These inserts can be made up to a month before and kept in the freezer wrapped in plastic film in airtight tupperware. Defrost a little before using.

Pipe a layer of cream cheese on a macaron shell. Top with a raspberry layer and the decorated shell. Smooth the filling by going around the edge with a finger.

Tada! A yummy macaron! They’re a bit higher than my usual macarons so next time I could make the raspberry layer a little thinner. Another possibility is a ring of cream cheese with a small circle of raspberry jelly inside. But with these higher ones there’s a nice ratio of filling to shell, making the macarons tastier and more refreshing.

raspberry and black pepper cheesecake macarons

Eating and storing

Once filled store in the fridge. Keep on a tray uncovered 24 hours then store in airtight tupperware. The jelly and cream cheese make these macarons soften rapidly so you can eat them almost immediately but preferably after 1 or 2 hours. They’re best eaten the same day. The next day they’ll be tasty but softer and the jelly layer starts colouring the cream cheese. You can store the cream cheese mixture separately in the fridge, and the macaron shells and raspberry inserts in the freezer, then assemble macarons every few days.

Sharing

These aren’t exactly healthy (despite the raspberry juice?!). But they are gluten-free treats so I’m taking them to Free From Fridays hosted by Mel@lecoindemel and Emma@Freefromfarmhouse. Do check out the great ‘free-from’ recipes there!

And please help yourselves to a macaron or two, or three…! Um… they’re not very sweet so they feel very light and both my friend and I managed to eat six in a row (or was it more?) but don’t tell anyone. Quality control you know. 🙂

Have a raspberry and black pepper cheesecake macaron!

Bidding you a fond farewell sweet reader and a fire-cracking start to the rooster new year! May it be a wonderful one for you with… yes, lots of happy baking and eating! 🙂 Lili x

P.S. Cock-a-doodle-doo! Sorry, been dying to say that…

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Baking on Sundays with my French mum was a lovely part of my childhood. Later I experimented with baking books or internet recipes and did the pâtisserie course at Le Cordon Bleu Paris. Still trying out new recipes and inventing cakes with influences from all around the world, adding healthy ones to the repertoire. Yes, love cakes!!! :)

Lili, these are the most adorable macarons I have ever seen! It’s such a cute design, and the colours go so well with the macaron shell, especially the shimmery gold. And such an intriguing flavour combination! I always love a bit of sweet-savoury ambiguity 🙂

How original! I never would have thought to put black pepper in macarons! Honestly, I’m not even sure I’d want to taste one before reading this, even though I love raspberry AND black pepper (just haven’t had them together before). This recipe looks great though and I’d definitely have to try it one day. And I love the Rooster design.
If possible, could you please check out my blog as well? Thanks!

A beautiful orange and rum fruitcake-cake Anglais fruitcake made by Dookes! Looks moist and delicious! Dookes’ comments: ‘seriously good!’ and ‘fantastico’!! You can find the guest post recipe at http://wp.me/p2sQo3-US And Dookes’ cake report is at https://hogriderdookes.wordpress.com/2015/03/18/lilis-biker-cake-made-and-tasted/ on his Hogrider Dookes blog.

A stunning Gâteau Moka by Kate in Cornwall. The piping is wonderful and she was very pleased with it. She also mentions the cake was delish! :)

A fantastic slice of Apple tarte tatin with Chinese 5 spices and Tamarind by Claudette, aka mum! :) It was very nice and using maple syrup is ‘genius’ she reports. The Pink Lady apples used were ‘lovely, juicy and firm’ and cooked on the ring a little over 10 mins. Plus the pastry browned quite quickly so was covered with foil towards the end.

Yummy wholemeal spelt croissants by Dookes. Very well-shaped and nicely risen too! ‘For a first attempt I have to say I’m pretty pleased. They certainly pass the taste test’ says Dookes.

Scrumptious orange & rum fruitcake-cake Anglais by Stéphanie in Tahiti ‘This cake is just delicious :) I brought one in the office today and it just vanished in a few minutes! Every one loved it :)’ she reports. Lovely local rum, vanilla, honey!

A fabulous Raspberry charlotte by Kate! Loads of raspberries and great sponge finger casing! The assembly part was actually really easy! and ‘it tasted amazing’ she says, adding it ‘will definitely become a regular pudding in our household!’

Lovely brioche rolls made by Annette in New Zealand! ‘They turned out really well thanks, my boys certainly enjoyed them, all gone now!’ she reports. But be careful – she noticed that if you don’t use invert sugar or honey but just caster sugar, you’ll need to add a little extra water.

Extremely tasty-looking Lamingtons by Annette in New Zealand. Lovely and moist even without cream inside, she reports. So tempting piled up on that pretty plate. Yum!

What I made at the Cordon Bleu in Paris

Caramelised pear meringue pie

Triomphe aux noix – caramel walnut mousse cake

Le Jamaique – passion fruit and coconut mousse cake

Milk chocolates – muscadines and pralinés

Gateau Moka

Batons de marechaux and palets aux raisins

Baba au rhum – rum baba

Pear Charlotte

Opera cake

Pithiviers

Chestnut hedgehog cake

Bavarois trois chocolats – Three chocolate bavarian cake

Diamants

Almond cake – Pavé d’amandes

Tartelettes au chocolat and à l’orange

Cake and Madeleines

Chocolate and pistachio bûche

Dacquoise

Wild strawberry treasure cake

Pain de mie and baguettes – French breads

Gateau Basque

Apricot streusel tart with puff pastry

Croquembouche

Savoury petits fours with inverted puff pastry

Dark chocolates – truffles and almond paste chocolates

Gateau Saint-Honoré

Le Fraisier

Douceur chocolat – Heavenly chocolate cake

Gateau Mogador

Palmiers and Chaussons aux pommes

Viennoiserie – croissants, brioches, pains au chocolat

Plating a rapsberry and anis macaron with raspberry coulis and anis cream